Role & capabilities
- Loitering munition
- Primary domain
- Air
- System type
- Loitering munition
- Developer / manufacturer
- STM
- Origin / production countries
- Türkiye
- Other names
- No additional names recorded
- Variants / configurations
- KARGU main product; RF-sensing KARGU configuration; KARGUFPV: separate branded system
- Operators / programme customers
- Türkiye — supplier reports inventory entry in 2018; Unnamed NATO/EU country — January 2026 order
Evidence & current status
Specifications are attributed public claims. Configuration, current fleet size and deliveries may not be fully disclosed.
KARGU is STM’s rotary-wing loitering munition. Unlike the company’s ALPAGU fixed-wing aircraft, it uses vertical take-off and a multirotor layout. STM describes day and night optical sensing and a family of payload configurations. This profile covers the main KARGU product; the separately branded KARGUFPV should not inherit all of its published performance figures.
STM’s January 2026 announcement reported contracts for KARGU and ALPAGU with an unnamed country belonging to both NATO and the European Union. The same release dates KARGU’s entry into the Turkish Armed Forces inventory to 2018. The company’s combined total of fifteen user countries refers to its UAV portfolio, not an independently verified KARGU-only operator count.
Published duration also varies by configuration. A July 2025 announcement for an RF-sensing version lists twenty-five minutes, while the January 2026 main-product description gives more than thirty minutes. The table labels those claims rather than averaging them. An RF-version field trial establishes that a configuration was tested; it does not establish that every delivered KARGU has the same sensing equipment.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Airframe | Multirotor loitering munition | Manufacturer-published figure; configuration and conditions may affect performance. Source ↗ |
| Launch / recovery | Vertical take-off | Manufacturer-published figure; configuration and conditions may affect performance. Source ↗ |
| Propulsion | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Dimensions | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Mass | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Endurance | More than 30 minutes in January 2026 main-product description; 25 minutes for July 2025 RF version | Different published configurations; not interchangeable. Source ↗ |
| Range | 10 km advertised operating range | Manufacturer-published figure; configuration and conditions may affect performance. Source ↗ |
| Speed | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Altitude | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Payload | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
| Sensors | EO/IR; RF-sensing version separately tested | Manufacturer-published figure; configuration and conditions may affect performance. Source ↗ |
| Communications / navigation | Not established from the reviewed public sources. | Public data gap; no estimate or neighbouring variant value substituted. Source ↗ |
Documented milestones
European export contract
STM announced a combined KARGU and ALPAGU agreement with an unnamed NATO/EU member.
Read the announcement ↗
Publication history
- — Added a sourced global catalogue profile with configuration-specific data and explicit evidence limits.
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Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.